The Promise of Pierson Orchard by Kate Brandes – Book Review/Blog Tour/Giveaway

I received a free copy of The Promise of Pierson Orchard from TLC Book Tours for my honest review.

I am very pleased to welcome Kate Brandes today with a special guest post in support of her new book, The Promise of Pierson Orchard. I hope you enjoy it – then be sure to read my thoughts about the book and enter the giveaway to win your own copy!

10 Favorite Things

The best part of my world is my family, home, good health, enough of everything I need, friends, and all of the things that make up the foundation of my good life, for which I’m tremendously grateful.

There are also smaller things that bring extra joy. I thought I’d share some of those (listed in no particular order):

1. Early mornings — I’m up before dawn most days because I love the quietness of early morning and I like being one of the first to witness the sun rise.

2. Coffee — This is essential, given the early morning thing. I like mine strong with cream, no sugar.

3. Flowers — I love them all. I’m particularly enchanted with wildflowers growing in the forests in my part of Pennsylvania. I go on long walks looking for them, particularly in the spring.

4. Making stuff — I like to bake and garden and paint and dabble in textile arts. Right now I’m working on a paper quilt project.

5. Deep conversation — I’m not opposed to chitchat, which makes up most of my daily interactions with people. But my favorite conversations are those from the heart.

6. Peppermint cream covered in dark chocolate — Yes, please

7. Running — Well, I need to qualify this one. I wouldn’t say running is a favorite thing while

I’m doing it. But I’m very happy to have run when it’s all over. This is the way I feel about writing, too.

9. Rubber boots — I love to pull these boots on for walks with my dog through the cornfields near my house.

10. My first novel, The Promise of Pierson Orchard – It took me seven years to finish and I’m over the moon that it debuted on Earth Day, April 22, 2017

About the Book:

Paperback

Publisher: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing (April 22, 2017)

Long before fracking ever came to Minden, Pennsylvania, the fissures in the Pierson family were developing into major fault lines.

Green Energy arrives, offering the rural community of Minden the dream of making more money from their land by leasing natural gas rights for drilling. But orchardist, Jack Pierson, fears his brother, Wade, who now works for Green Energy, has returned to town after a twenty-year absence so desperate to be the hero that he’ll blind their hometown to the potential dangers. Jack also worries his brother will try to rekindle his relationship with LeeAnn, Jack’s wife, who’s recently left him. To protect his hometown and to fulfill a promise to himself, Jack seeks out his mother and environmental lawyer, Stella Brantley, who abandoned Minden–and Jack and Wade–many, many years ago.

About the Author:

An environmental scientist with 20 years of experience, Kate Brandes is also a watercolor painter and a writer of women’s fiction with an environmental bent. Her short stories have been published in The Binnacle, Wilderness House Literary Review, and Grey Sparrow Journal. Kate is a member of the Arts Community of Easton (ACE), the Lehigh Art Alliance, Artsbridge, the Pennwriters, and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Kate lives in a small town along the Delaware River with her husband, David, and their two sons. When she’s not working, she’s outside on the river or chasing wild flowers.

My Opinion:

I was drawn to this book because I grew up in Philadelphia (moving to the Jersey shore when I was 12) so it brought back memories of home. I will also note before I dive into my thoughts that I am anti-fracking. Let me also note that the book is if not even handed on the issue, at least a bit balanced by showing both sides of this contentious issue.

The book takes place in a rural area where farming is a way of life. The main character, Jack Pierson, runs an apple orchard that he inherited from his father – a man who was not a caring man. His mother left early in his life and it left Jack severely emotionally stunted. His wife LeeAnn has recently left Jack because of a myriad of reasons but mostly because of his inability to understand her drive for a child. She is willing to do anything while he just didn’t get how much she wanted a baby. She is also experimenting with organic apple growing which Jack doesn’t understand; why change what has worked for years? And her mother is dying.

Jack has a brother, Wade, who left town after their father died (he accidentally killed him) – but he’s now back in town as the representative of a gas company. He’ trying to get drilling rights from the people in town so that his company can start fracking. To complete this circle, Jack and Wade’s mother has established herself since her absence from their lives as an environmental lawyer – with a particular knowledge of Wade’s company.

Whew!

There are a number of subplots going on in the book involving relationships past and present and Ms. Brandes does a good job of making them easy to follow. She also educates her readers without bogging them down with too much technical jargon and gives them what they need to delve further into the fracking issue if they want to learn more. Each character is unique and well developed. If you enjoy family drama with an environmental twist you will definitely find your bliss with this book.

Rating:

4

The Giveaway:

One lucky reader (US/Can) will win a copy of The Promise of Pierson Orchard. Just enter as many ways as you would like on the Gleam widget below. Good luck everyone!

Ms. Brandes is also hosting a bookclub giveaway on her website – here is the info so you can enter there too!

Bookclub Giveaway: In celebration of my upcoming book launch, I’m offering 8 signed paperback copies, 8 small prizes, a $25 Amazon gift card and a list of book-related discussion questions to one lucky book club member to share with your club. All you have to do to enter is tell one person about the book and sign up here: http://katebrandes.com/books/the-promise-of-person-orchard/ Contest runs through my book launch date, April 22, 2017. The winner will be announced the following day! Good luck!

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City girl turned farm girl, Patty Woodland
shares her life and loves from a small
Montana farm. Drawing inspiration from
her garden, cats, and the
beautiful countryside,
Broken Teepee is a
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